Episode 3 - Panel 1a - Voting to maintain the Union in 1918: ‘the strongest pillars upon which they stood' - Elaine Callinan

Southern Irish Loyalism in Context

Voting to maintain the Union in 1918: ‘the strongest pillars upon which they stood’ Tom Garvin in The Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics stated that ‘the general election of December 1918 was, in the language of political science, a critical election.’ It was the dawn of intense electioneering and the creation of adroit propaganda campaigns aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the electorate. Southern unionists, like their nationalist counterparts, sought to persuade (and at times manipulate) opinion to draw support for their manifestos and policies during these elections. This paper will examine how and where unionist candidates were nominated and geographically located in 1918. Analysis on the methods of propaganda (such as newspapers, advertisements, symbols, ballads and so on) that were utilised will be conducted; and an examination into the themes and content of unionist political messages will demonstrate how they aimed to secure votes. The threat of partition loomed and fears were raised among southern unionists that key politicians in Ulster, such as Edward Carson, perceived the island as ‘consisting of two parties only – Ulster Unionists and Southern Nationalists’ (Irish Times, 18 November 1918). Therefore, an answer as to how these concerns and the everyday issues of taxation, rates, pensions and farming were addressed in unionist propaganda will be provided. Finally, the results of southern unionist candidates in the 1918 general election will be discussed to ascertain how they fared in their constituencies by comparison to nationalist competitors, and to determine who cast their votes in favour of the union. Alongside a range of secondary sources, some of the primary sources in this paper includes: Parliamentary Debates of the House of Commons, reports from national and regional newspapers, and private papers and Ulster Unionist Council minutes from the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. Elaine Callinan attained a BA honours degree in Humanities from Carlow College and an MPhil from Trinity College Dublin. She will complete her PhD thesis titled ‘Propaganda and Electioneering, 1917-1920’ in Trinity College Dublin this year. Her research explores the propaganda campaigns and electioneering methods of unionists, nationalists and labour for the by-elections of 1917-18, the 1918 general election and the local government elections of 1920. Elaine is a history lecturer in modern Irish, European and transatlantic history at Carlow College, St Patrick’s.